Meetings of interest
Hosted in Aspen and in Carbondale
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Colo. Health Care Reform:
What's the Employer Response?
9:00 a.m. to 11 a.m.
Mountain Chalet (upstairs meeting room)
333 E. Durant Ave., Aspen
1:30 p.m. to 3 p.m.
Aspen Glen Club
0545 Bald Eagle Way, Carbondale
There is no charge for either event.
We'll
update employers on health care reform efforts and capture their
responses to proposed changes. The Business Health Forum will lead the
discussion.
Join us to review legislative proposals &
recommendations from a blue ribbon commission on health care, and give
us your feedback to take back to the Capitol. The latest survey
technology will capture your opinions - and those of your peers - for
on-the-spot sharing and discussion.
RSVP info
Aspen Chamber Resort Association: 970-925-1940.
Carbondale Chamber: 970-963-1890 or email chamber@carbondale.com.
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The Business Health Forum is funded by several foundations, including The Colorado Health Foundation and The Colorado Trust.
Stay tuned for info. about upcoming business health care forums in your community.
To learn more about the Forum, contact Renee' Mowers at rmowers@bizhealthforum.org or call 303-866-9658.
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Dear Amy,
As
health insurance premiums continue to soar and Colorado examines
wide-scale health care reform, there has never been a more important
time for the business community to engage in the debate. The Forum is a
new project to help you connect the dots and weigh in on solutions.
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Small business is latest focus in health fight
As the number of people without health insurance continues to rise,
many states and Congress have begun to focus on one of the biggest
causes: the growing number of small business owners and their workers
who are unable to afford coverage.
The states are taking a variety
of approaches. To help ease the burden of insurance premiums that have
roughly doubled since 2000, some, like Arizona, are extending tax
credits to small employers that provide medical coverage.
Some
states, like Colorado, have passed tougher laws governing what insurers
can charge small companies. Others, including New Mexico and Montana,
are exploring ways to let small businesses band together to amass the
purchasing power of big employers. Massachusetts plans to let small
businesses benefit from its state-supervised insurance program.
"States are being aggressive experimenters, and those lessons learned
are going to be invaluable to us in looking at national health reform,"
said Michelle Dimarob, manager of legislative affairs for the National
Federation of Independent Business. New York Times
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Top health care news
Pricey cancer drugs put squeeze on physicians
The
Wall Street Journal on Tuesday examined how "hyperexpensive cancer
drugs" are causing oncologists to go into debt and potentially
interfering with treatment decisions. According to the Journal, a "new
generation of cancer drugs," including Genentech's Avastin and ImClone
Systems' Erbitux, are "transforming cancer care" by giving oncologists
their first new treatment options in decades for "desperately ill
patients."
However, the price of the drugs -- up to $100,000 per
year -- is pushing doctors into "weighing costs alongside a drug's
potential effectiveness," the Journal reports.
Because cancer
drugs are administered intravenously in a doctor's office, oncologists
often must front the cost of the treatments and are "on the hook until
patients or insurers pay the bill," the Journal reports.
Arthur
Caplan, a bioethics professor at the University of Pennsylvania, said
this is "one of the toughest issues in oncology," especially when drug
prices can mean exchanging "family assets for the possibility of a few
more months of life." A survey of 167 cancer doctors published last
year in the Journal of Clinical Oncology found that 42% said they
regularly raised the issue of cost when discussing treatment options
with patients, 23% said costs influenced their treatment decisions and
16% said they choose not to discuss certain treatments when they know
the cost would place strain on patients' resources. Kaiser Family Foundation
Business coalition says bill would cause large-scale disruption
A proposed bipartisan bill in Congress that seeks to make "sweeping
changes" to the existing U.S. system of employer-based health insurance
could pose significant problems and make it more difficult to reduce
the number of uninsured, members of the National Coalition on Benefits
wrote in a letter sent to legislators Monday, CQ HealthBeat reports.
Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Bob Bennett (R-Utah) co-sponsored the
bill, known as the Healthy Americans Act, with a bipartisan group of 14
other senators in an effort to establish a universal health care system.
The legislation would effectively eliminate the employer-sponsored
health care system and replace it with a system in which individuals
would purchase private health coverage through state-run purchasing
pools. All residents would be required to obtain coverage. Wyden in
April modified the measure to allow employers to continue providing
health coverage.
The coalition -- including America's Health
Insurance Plans, Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, Business
Roundtable, General Electric and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce -- wrote
that the bill "would cause large-scale disruption in the source,
financing and regulation of the employer-sponsored health coverage that
now serves most Americans." Kaiser Family Foundation
Colorado groups press for national health care reform
Groups representing doctors, nurses and organized labor were expected
to gather July 8 at the state Capitol to press for national health care
reform.
"We're talking about giving people choices," said
Francoise Mbabazi, health care program director for Colorado
Progressive Coalition. "We're looking at how we can stand together in
solidarity and cover the 47 million uninsured across the country."
The Colorado coalition is part of a national campaign, and similar events were planned in 40 states.
The coalition wants a health care plan that would not deny coverage to
people who have a pre-existing condition or raise rates for those who
get sick. The coalition will provide online and community forums to
discern what people want and need in a health care plan. Rocky Mountain News
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